From the NYT:

Re “Gatsby’s Green Light Beckons a New Set of Strivers” (front page, Feb. 17):

If F. Scott Fitzgerald knew that today’s high school students would be comparing Jay Gatsby’s elusive green light to admission to Harvard, he would be shaking his head in disdain.

“The Great Gatsby” is not a novel that glorifies the rags-to-riches American dream. It is, in fact, the very opposite, and I find it most surprising that the students and faculty of the Boston Latin School featured in the article could be so misinformed.

The light does give Gatsby hope, but between West Egg, where Gatsby is, and East Egg, where his hope is, there lies an insuperable cultural divide. The green light represents all of what we want, but that we never can attain. Jay Gatsby would never reach that light, for the end of his American dream saw him face down in his swimming pool.

Nathaniel Eiseman
Charlestown, Mass., Feb. 18, 2008

The writer is a member of the class of 2008 at Boston Latin School.